


22

by Ryan_magickink_Foxheart



Category: Tales from Verania - T.J. Klune
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Body Swap, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-24
Updated: 2018-12-24
Packaged: 2019-09-26 10:57:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17140514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ryan_magickink_Foxheart/pseuds/Ryan_magickink_Foxheart
Summary: Every year, on the 25th of August, soulmates switch bodies. As long as both are older than 22, both alive, and haven’t switched before, they remain switched for two weeks before they switch back. People worldwide have access to The Soulmate Fund, a global fund contributed to by every country, designed to help people meet their soulmate before the period is up.





	22

**Author's Note:**

> Short soulmate AU I wrote because I felt like it (let's be honest I was procrastinating). I may decide to write more of it sometime, so if you like it let me know and I may do it sooner :)

Tomorrow. Fucking tomorrow. You’d think after 22 years I’d be ready for the day I switch, but no. No, Sam Haversford has to worry too much about pointless things. Like who’s it going to be? I hope they’re hot. Who am I kidding, of course I’ll find them hot. But does that mean I’ll be attracted to myself for two weeks? Or would it not count as me because I’m only in their body? That’s another thing, what if I wake up as a woman? I’m fairly sure I’m into dudes but you never know with this soulmate thing. 

“Sam, you are the gayest person I’ve ever met, you will not wake up as a woman you can trust me on that.” Justin had the unmistakable ‘Sam you’re being an idiot’ face everyone seemed to be able to recreate perfectly.

“What? How did you—”

“You were talking to yourself. Again. You’re lucky people are used to ignoring you, otherwise, you’d be in trouble.”

I frowned at him. Why would I be in trouble?

“Have you seriously zoned out so much you’ve forgotten where you are?” He rolled his eyes at me, “The presentation? About tomorrow? Mum insisted I go with you for this exact reason?”

Oh god yeah, I’m meant to be paying attention to this presentation. To be fair, it doesn’t really matter if I don’t. Gary said it was pointless unless you were a complete idiot, then said it might be a good idea if I went. What does he know, it’s not like he’s giving this presentation. 

“And now for our randomly selected guest speaker to give advice and answer your questions from a more updated point of view,” I refocused on the older woman at the front of the stage, “Please welcome Gary to the stage.”

Gary looked directly up at me as he walked on stage with a too-sweet smile on his face. To make this whole ordeal so much worse, he gave me a short patronising wave when he reached the mic. At this point, I couldn’t help but wonder, was I cursed as a baby? Am I being punished for something I did in another life?

 

***

 

So Gary’s talk was kind of useful. He reminded us to write down our phone password and make sure we have basic info about who people are and where stuff is kept so they aren’t completely lost when they get to your body. He also recommended memorising your phone number so you can contact your body and figure out travel arrangements as soon as possible. There was some other stuff, but I was only able to pay attention to the same stuff over and over again before I zoned out for good. Justin would make sure to remember anything vital anyway, that was the real reason mum sent him with me. 

We were home now. Justin was downstairs with our parents. They thought it’d be best to give me some alone time to mentally prepare myself and get all my stuff ready for whoever would arrive in my body tomorrow. 

After I’d got my stuff sorted, and finished freaking out, I went down to have dinner with the rest of the family. Justin had a permanent scowl on his face as our parents talked about what kind of guy they thought I’d end up with. I couldn’t blame him really; I did the same thing two years ago when they had been talking about who they thought he’d end up with, so it’s only fair he got to do the same.

After dinner, Gary and Tiggy came to watch movies with me and the rest of the family. Gary wept dramatically most of the night obviously. Not because he would miss me, oh no, he wept because he couldn’t figure out how I’d be able to function without him around. He said this was probably the last time I’d ever be with him because I’d be dead within five minutes of waking up from intense ‘Gary withdrawal symptoms’. Like those were a real thing. 

No one jumped to my defence though, which was interesting. It was good to know the people around me had faith in me to survive on my own for a day or two until they inevitably dragged me back in whoever’s body I was in. 

By the end of the evening, I told them I hated them all and was going to run off with my new man for the two weeks. Then Tiggy gave me a look that made me melt inside and I apologised, cried, and had a group hug with them all. 

I really would miss them for however long I took to get back here. Though that wouldn’t be too long because there was no way I’d leave my soulmate alone with Gary for too long. No one deserved that kind of torture unprepared.

 

*****

 

My head hurt. Something felt wrong. There was an alarm going off somewhere in the room, and I never used an alarm. 

I rolled over toward the invasive sound and reached out to turn it off. When I saw a white, muscular arm I remembered what today was. I slammed my hand down on the alarm, probably breaking it in the process, and leapt out of bed to find the nearest mirror so I could find out what I was going to look like for the next two weeks. 

Once I found one I saw that holy balls he was gorgeous. Long, wavy blond hair and a well-groomed beard framed sharp cheekbones and dazzling green eyes. I looked down at the rest of his body and was amazed to see how ripped he was. Blond hair covered bulging pectorals and trailed down over chiselled abs and under his tight black briefs. I ran his hands back over his muscular ass and admired how his thick biceps flexed as I squeezed it. 

“Fuck me, this is my soulmate?” I said in an unfamiliar voice. What a nice voice it was though. Not too deep, yet soft and gentle. Also American, which I wasn’t expecting.

I continued to flex and admire my temporary host in the mirror as I tried on clothes from his wardrobe and marvelled and how well they fit his body. It looked like I’d hit the jackpot. 

***RING***

***RING***

A phone on the nightstand snapped me out of the trance-like state I’d got myself into. I picked it up, curious to see who the caller ID said was calling him this early on the day of the switch.

It was my number.

Shit.

Here goes nothing I guess.

I answered it.

“Hey,” I heard my voice say. Was that really what I sounded like? Perhaps Gary was right, I should talk less.

“Hey.”

“So Sam, you’re my soulmate then. How do you like my body?” I’m glad he couldn’t see me now because I was blushing furiously.

“It’s, um, fine, I guess. Very, um, good. Well done on that one.” 

There was some kind of muffled sound in the background I couldn’t quite hear.

“Wait, how do you know my name already?” I questioned. “I didn’t tell you that?”

As it turned out, the muffled sound was Gary laughing. Asshole.

“Is that Gary? Seriously? The first person you talk to today isn’t me, your actual soulmate, it’s fucking Gary? Unbelievable,” I shook my head, “Actually, you know what? I’m not surprised at all that Gary ambushed you.”

“Wow, he was right. You really did get worked up over that,” he said in between fits of laughter. 

I stayed quiet as I heard movement from over the phone, and then a door shut. 

“Sorry,” the still nameless soulmate of mine said. “Hearing myself all flustered like that was, weird,”—his voice lowered—“ but also kind of hot.”

At that moment it took all the willpower I had to keep my brain functioning. 

“Okay, that was gross. Don’t get me wrong, I’m into it, I am SO into it. But you have to admit it was a little gross. Saying that, if I’m into my soulmate in my body saying he finds his own voice hot does that make me a narcissist? Are we both narcissists? Am I going to spend the next two weeks fucking myself in my bed? That would be a whole new level of gross. Don’t most people fuck within the two weeks though? I’m sure Gary said they do. Maybe it wouldn’t be gross if I was a bit into myself then.”

“You never stop talking, do you,” he said, a quiet laugh filled the speaker.

“Not really. Justin says I don’t have a filter which is probably true. He’s a dick though, so don’t talk to him about me. Or do and tell me what he says. It’s up to you really. Until I get there. Then it’ll be you and me and lots of cuddling. And sex, if you think it’s not too weird if we fuck ourselves.”

“We’ll see Sam, we’ll see.”

“That’s another thing! You still haven’t told me your name. You know mine, so it’s only fair.” 

“It’s Ryan. Ryan Foxheart.”

“Well then Ryan Foxheart, I’ll be in your arms soon. My arms? I don’t know.”

“So you’re coming here then?”

“Yup. My family wouldn’t have it any other way. By that, I mean Gary would drag me by your lovely long blond hair through the ocean and back to England if you tried to come here for the two weeks instead.”

“The worst thing is, after meeting Gary for five minutes I know you’re not kidding.”

“Right! He’s kind of insane. He’s not all bad though, he means well.”

“As much as I’d love to sit around and chat all day, I’d much rather have you here with me, and that means you have a plane to catch. I don’t want Gary to ruin my hair by dragging you through the ocean now do I?”

I put the phone down on the bed and put in on speaker so I could pack and keep talking to Ryan.

“Oh god yeah, plane. Um, clothes. I’m gonna need to pack clothes. Do you have a suitcase I can use somewhere?” I said as I threw piles of stuff from the wardrobe onto the bed.

“There’s one underneath the bed you can use. Want me to book your flight and stuff?”

“Yeah, one of my dads will have The Soulmate Fund details.”

I began to haphazardly fold the clothes I’d thrown on the bed and pack them into the suitcase I’d pulled out from where Ryan said it would be. I also included some of the more… revealing things he had hidden away in the back I’m sure he didn’t want me to find. 

“I’ll text you all the details, for now just get an Uber to the airport. See you soon Sam.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah okay. You’ll see your sexy ass soon,” I said with a smirk as I hung up

 

***

 

The flight was fairly uneventful. I picked up the first-class ticket Ryan and my parents had booked for me. That must have been Ryans idea because there’s no way my parents would’ve justified buying a first-class ticket. It was nice compared to what I expected. Plenty of room, even with my temporarily larger body, and free drinks; definitely not a bad way to spend a ten-hour flight to meet my soulmate. 

I still couldn’t get over how ridiculously hot he was. Who did I kill in another life to deserve this guy as my soulmate? He was sweet as fuck as well, I could already tell that from our phone call.

I wonder what he does for a living? There were so many questions I wanted to ask him. I should write a list. If we’d met any other time, how big his dick was would’ve been at the top of the list; I already found out the answer to that question before I left for the airport and let me say I was very impressed. 

After I wrote down all the questions I could think of, I napped for most of the rest of the flight, it was easier to pass the time that way than if I watched way too many crap in-flight movies.

Justin picked me up from the airport once I’d arrived. The look on his face when he realised the blond jock walking towards him was me is something I’ll never forget. It was such a wonderful combination of arousal, anger, and surprise. I kind of wish I’d figured out how to get him to make that face again, or at least taken a picture.

 

***

 

It was a strange feeling when Ryan greeted us at the door. To see what I knew was my own face, but look slightly different from how I’m used to whenever I saw it in the mirror or in a photo. That was one thing about this whole switch I was glad I wouldn’t have to get used to.

“I’ve got to say, I didn’t expect to find myself this attractive,” Ryan said as he slid his arms up and over my muscular shoulders, where they came to rest behind my neck.

I slid my hands around his waist and pulled him flush up against my body, “Your narcissism’s showing itself there.”

“Awfully cosy stood like this, you going to kiss me Sam?”

“Do you want me to?” I whispered into his ear.

“Okay, if you two are going to be disgusting I’m going inside and leaving you out here in the cold,” Justin walked past us and closed the door behind him.

We both burst out laughing as soon as the door was shut and we were sure he was out of earshot. He could be ridiculous sometimes. As if he wasn’t exactly like us two years ago.

Ryan rested his forehead against mine as our laughter subsided. After a few moments in that position, I looked up, only to find him looking down at me with a lazy smile on his face.

“I’ve been waiting for this day for five years you know,” he said.

“Now you don’t have to wait, not another minute. I’m here now.”

A heavy silence passed between us. Both of us waited for what felt like hours, waited for the other to move first, for the other to initiate what would be the first moment of the rest of our lives together.

“Ryan, if you don’t kiss Sam right this second I will be forced to come out there and tie your faces together myself!” Gary shouted.

We looked over in the direction Gary’s voice had come from. My whole family, Justin included, were gathered at the window. All three of my parents were crying. Gary had a camera. Tiggy was holding Gary up as he hung out the window so he could get the best angle of us.

I shifted my eyes back to Ryan, who laughed when I rolled my eyes. I was so not impressed by the gathered crowd.

“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!” Tiggy chanted.

So we did.


End file.
